Siths Domain

To start off with, this is another attempt for myself to actually write up a journal more than anything else. Spaced out into nice sections for my own convienience.

Writing
Not to much has happened on my writing front since November other than the occational chapter added to my story. I did however participate in a short story competition throughout september on one of the various forums i am part of and was after a two week writing period submitted my work. Out of the many multiple members who were interested in the contest, only one other member submitted besides myself. I forget the total amount of votes other than i got them all. That being said, the other story was fairly interesting and quite honestly im surprised it didnt do as well vote wise.

Easter
Well, as this just past i figure it deserves some vague mentioning. Myself and my Brother were the hosts of a small bbq on saturday(perhaps 13 of us in total), and it turned out to be great. I prepped the food friday night, and began my cooking saturday around 6pm. During the cooking period, our guests sat down for some gamecubing fun with smash brothers melee, or chose a more physical activity in our new badminton set(which it turns out is a delicasy for our local rabbit population).
All in all it turned out very well with nothing broken, nor to much of a mess.

Gaming front
Now of course we have my gaming obsession, since i last posted i have picked up my gamecube. I picked up that little toy early january, and since have dropped roughly $600-800 into it. I have picked up multiple party games for get togethers, as well as a fairly decent RPG that had me captivated for awhile, that being Baiten Kaitos.
Baiten Kaitos was the first rpg i had played on a console that used a card system as your defence, attack and item commands, and after a few rough fights i got into the groove and dove into the story full of action, romance, deciept, war and the whole nine yards. It is a very decent game i found story wise for the last few years as most games fail to keep me captivated through their entirety.

Next game of importance for a post is Kingdom Hearts II. This is by far the best game i have had the pleasure of playing in a very very long time. For those unfamiliar with the series, you follow a young boy named Sora, who is on a journey to find his friends Riku and Kairi. This journey lands Sora with some unusual companions, those being donald duck and goofy, who are in search of their king, Mickey Mouse. Sora ends up being a chosen warrior in the war against a species known as the heartless, which are just creatures lacking a heart. In this game you continue on your journey looking for your friends and end up facing off against the heartless and a new group known as the nobodies. Its a mix of final fantasy and disney and although it feels childish at points, its a really great game.


And on a final note, i will be sinking a large sum of money into my computer to finally create a gaming system that if not current, close enough to it that i can play some games ive been itching to for some time.

Well, i havent posted here much at all. I use last month's Nano writing as my excuse.

In regards to Nano, i am proud to announce that i completed it, crossing the finish line with just over 50k words. I will most likely be tossing up a chapter or two once ive gotten em edited. I must admit that the experience was very fun, and as such i plan on doing more writing in the near future, have the book i started for Nano to finish, then hopefully a few more things written. To keep my writing going i will be doing up a small short story for a forum contest.

With all the spare time ive gotten the last few days ive put it into Guild Wars again, joining the GAN guild that was just formed. I will be chipping into the guild cape fund, as well as the guild hall fund after that. I was also nice enough to start up a new character so i could travel around with them. As im back into the game, ill get to know members who i have never associated with till this point.

Then there is Gunz online. It is fairly amusing for short periods of time. Its an over the shoulder third person shooter which has incorporated matrixy type of effects, like running on walls.

Yeah short post i know, but ill make a new one soon.

Well for the most part i will be trying to stay away from the crap that goes on in my life, i hate talking about it usually, and well i know most people would hate reading it but anyway.

Last night officially is the end of any dealings i have to to with C.C.V.I(centennial collegiate vocational institute) in my life. I will occationally go back to talk with the few teachers who actually impacted my life, but aside from that, im done with it. If you have had any dealings with me before, you will know my absolute hatred with this school, ranging from ramptant asshattery from administration, and the overall shitty teaching. Now, im not saying every teacher did a bad job teaching, but most did. Fuck most dont care about the students or seeing them learn. That is why im glad i am done with the school, because out of my entire 5 year stay there, only 5 teachers proved to me they care about students. Out of roughly 25-26 teachers i had, 5 proved they could teach competently and also were ones who cared about the learning of their students.

Anyway, back to some amusing news.

Last week i had gotten my hands on my pre order of Soul Calibur III. Due to my bout with a cold and my adventures on the weekend i havent gotten the chance to break it in as i had wanted, but throughout the week PA made a comic that very much defines the gaming i had with some friends last sunday.
http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php?date=2005-11-02&res=l

Aside from the Soul Callous, we have that strip made.

In Nano news, as of thursday night i had achieved 6005 words, but i failed to get any written yesterday due to commencement. There is also a meeting today at 7pm downtown for guelph nanoers which i am planning on attending.

Well, this post is mainly to announce results of the Starcraft Blizzcon invitational Results. So for all non Starcraft nerds, this will mean nothing, to me, it means far more than it should anyway, as followed.


Round Of 8



1Game [Red]NaDa(T) VS Legionnaire(P)......[ReD]NaDa Win!

2Game Nal_rA(P) VS Mondragon(Z)......Nal_rA Win!

3Game [NC]...YellOw(Z) VS Assem(T)......[NC]YellOw Win!

4Game [Oops]Reach(P) VS Testie(R)......[Oops]Reach Win!





Loser'S Group 1st Round



1Game Mondragon(Z) VS Legionnaire(P)......Mondragon Win!

2Game Testie(R) VS Assem(T)......Testie Win!





Winner'S Group Semi-Final



1Game [ReD]NaDa(T) VS Nal_rA(P)......[ReD]NaDa Win!

2Game [NC]...YellOw(Z) VS [Oops]Reach(P)......[NC]...YellOw Win!





Loser'S Group 2nd Round



1Game [Oops]Reach(P) VS Mondragon(Z)......[Oops]Reach Win!

2Game Nal_rA(P) VS Testie(R)......Nal_rA Win!

Losers Group 3rd Round
1Game [Oops]Reach(p) vs Nal_Ra(p)......[Oops]Reach Win!

Finals
YellOw(z) vs [Oops]Reach(p)......YellOw Win!

Im sure plenty of people bring news about this guy, hell i get it from one of the biggest sites around, but i feel its my duty to continue it along.



Theres more though, the guy has since replied to NIMF. http://biz.gamedaily.com/features.asp?article_id=10830



For those of you who will read this, you will further see the insane
stupidity of this man. He really has shown it here. In more than one
place he makes it sound as if Dr. Walsh is a complete moron. Now, ive
yet to read what he has done, but id say distancing yourself from a
lunitic from Jack shows at least some intelligence.



Through the entire letter, Jack just degrades Walsh, claiming he took
bad legal advice, portraying him as an idiot and so on. He at one point
he even points out that its because of republicans like him that causes
are won (uses WW2 as the main example).



Now, as i think Gabe from Penny Arcade said it best "Jack is not scary,
if you speak to him for even a couple minutes you realize that. What’s
scary is that people in the mainstream media listen to him. I don’t
think we can just ignore him anymore."



There are more escapades with this man, but to say it simply, this is
just the most recent. He has also had various dealings with PA for
their responce to his challenge, it is rather amusing.

Thats all for now.

Well this is just so i have a bit of a insight to my problems in my writing. This is by no stretch what i plan to use for NANO, but simply some work ive done id like some feedback on, with that i can potentially do a better job when i start Nov 1st.

Prologue

Cladmir strolled slowly down Gonath street heading north towards the Imperial Castle. As he walked, the people around him gave him a wide birth in the street, which suited him nicely. he hated pushing his way through the crowd. Suddenly, he stopped and thought to himself for a moment, then proceeded on his way moving slightly faster than before. As he reached the end of the street, with the castle in sight he slowly began walking faster but took note of the men who casually stepped out of an ally and began to shadow him. Smiling he slowed down slightly to allow them to catch up. Then, he struck sending the first thug hard to the cobblestones. Taking note that there were five assailants, counting the one he had already felled, Cladmir drew his sword and engaged his would be murderers.


*****

The meeting left Cladmir shaken, his orders were much more vicious than he was used to. Deciding to speak with his commander he jogged towards the guardhouse. He knocked on the door. Failing to get a response, he tried the handle. The door opened and Cladmir stepped in slowly making sure that he wasn’t disturbing anyone and looked around. Same as he remembered it, tapestry of the continent on the far wall, a painting of the recently deceased Queen Larissa and King Gythak over his bed, desk beside the bed, but oddly there were papers littered over it. Knowing how neat the commander was, Cladmir walked over to the desk. Knowing that it was against procedure and rules, Cladmir took a look at the papers anyway. The first was a notice to send a squire to pick up some supplies for the king’s knights, the second was a letter from his sister. The third that he saw was shocking, it was a order to send half the men to raid the small town of Gorn. Seeing his home town as a target for destruction, he took off out the door only to see the commander hurrying back. Ducking out of sight, Cladmir waited for the commander to go into his office. Dashing away from the area Cladmir headed for the stables, he had to warn his brother of what was going to happen. He saddled up his steed and swung up onto it. He rode out and into the streets and heard “STOP HIM, HES BETRAYED THE KING.”
Riding harder, Cladmir made for the fastest route out of the city.

*****

The hooves clattered down the road. The rider urging his steed faster, looked nervously over his shoulder. Looking forward again, he saw shadows lurch out towards him. Tossed from his steed, he rose to see three men clad in black armour stalking towards him with murderous sneers written on their faces. Unsheathing his blade, he waited for them and prepared to defend himself.

*****

Rushing down the path, Cladmir urged his steed to move faster. Weaving in and out of the tree line he cut across a clearing and back into the forest to emerge onto the path leading to Gorn. Riding quickly down the path, he heard the sounds of battle up ahead. Urging his steed into a gallop, he charged around a corner. Seeing a man fighting against three men he drew his sword and dove at the closest of the men. Slicing out with his sword he managed to back the man away and moved to intercept the next enemy only to se him collapse with a knife protruding from his neck. The last man seeing the tides suddenly turn, turned and ran only to have Cladmir’s steed rush infront of him and kick out with its front legs collapsing the man’s Skull. Turning towards the injured man, Cladmir dashed and proceeded with a two-handed slash upwards slicing through the mans armour and cutting him open from gut to neck. Cladmir turned towards the rider.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
“I am now, thank you, but I must be going. Tonight is not safe to be out and id prefer to be home and safe before high moon.” replied the rider.
Understanding, Cladmir shook the rider’s hand then remounted his horse and proceeded back towards Gorn.

*****

Slowly he entered the town and rode towards his brother’s home. Cladmir looked around for the town sentry but couldn’t see him posted anywhere. Cautiously he continued forward and was stopped by the sound of a familiar voice.
“Cladmir, its been a long time old friend.”
Turning quickly, Cladmir spotted a roughly six foot man walking towards him. Inspecting his face in the torchlight, realization dawned over him.
“Ahh Rybal my ol friend, its been a long time. What brings you out here at this hour of the night, I was under the impression you had day duty.” uttered Cladmir slowly.
“I was just recently transferred to nights, we needed experienced soldiers to protect us from the wolf and bandit attacks. But that’s me, why are you here? Last I heard you were busy working for the new king of Kistaria.” replied Rybal.
“Only here for the night and maybe part of tomorrow. I came to see my brother.” sputtered Cladmir.
Bidding farewell to his friend, Cladmir rode the rest of the way to his brothers’ house and knocked on the door. A woman opened the door and recognizing Cladmir ushered him into the house.
“Your brother is upstairs in his study, I don’t know why you’re back in town but I know that if your coming here you need to speak with him.” She said bluntly.
Proceeding to the study, he saw his brother reclining in a chair reading a scroll.
“Greetings brother, its been a long time. I never thought you would come back especially after knowing how much the people dislike you. So what brings you to my home Cladmir.”
“I have urgent news for you Grayak. The army is going to be raiding here tomorrow. I need you to clear out the villa… what the hell are you doing here” growled Cladmir as he spotted Rybal.
Rybal came bursting into the room with a slender sword streaked with blood in his hand.
“I got orders to terminate you Cladmir, nothing personal, but you really shouldn’t have betrayed the king.” Rybal said casually.
Dashing forward, Rybal drew a knife and threw it towards Grayak, only to find that it stopped dead and dropped to the floor a few feet from its target. Grayak smiled then uttered something under his breath conjuring a bolt of crackling energy and tossed it towards Rybal and gasped in surprise as Rybal sliced his sword through the energy and stabbed forward into Grayak’s heart. Angry, Cladmir threw himself at Rybal and sliced low and cut deep into Rybals knee. Gasping in pain, Rybal hopped back then slashed out at Cladmir. The two attacked and countered. Both fell to the ground when the house shuddered below them. Flames licked their way through the door greedily reaching for the men, blazingly searing the floor in its wake. Cladmir was the first to his feet and slammed his blade into Rybal hurling him into the flames. Rushing to the window Cladmir looked out and cried out in surprise. Outside, he saw a beautiful man with blazing silvery red hair, blue armour with the crest of a shining star, a midnight blue cape, and a blade, a blade he recognized all to well. The man smiled and raised his sword in an arc and quickly slashing sent a force of wind tearing towards the house. The wall shattered into Cladmir sending him flying across the room. Slowly sliding down the wall Cladmir yelped in pain as he felt something slam itself deep into his shoulder. Looking to the side, he saw Rybal slowly moving through the flames, seeming to enjoy the flickering flames dancing around him.
“Good bye Cladmir, I’ll tell the good king you send your regards”
with that Rybal pointed his sword out and sent a spear of flame straight into Cladmir.
With a tremendous scream Cladmir collapsed to the floor. The last thing he heard were the screams coming from the town. The war had begun.

Well, for all other gamers who have heard the name Jack Thompson and know of his escapades to eliminate violent video games, and the like will find the current news from his front hopefully amusing. To begin this little story, i will first make it known to those who dont know, he made a completely outrageous challenge found here http://gc.advancedmn.com/article.php?artid=5883

It details his sick fantasy in which he will donate to a charity if a developer has the balls to create that monstrosity. Now, after seeing this, Penny Arcades Gabe took it upon himself to email Jack and left contact information in his signature. This led to phone calls in which Jack just yelled at Gabe and threatened him. Now, this is something im sure Gabe is used to and infact enjoys from his instigating, but thats beside the point. From this little encounter, this happened http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=12259

One of the big boys that Jack had been using to back most of his rantings, America's National Institute on Media and the Family came out and told Jack to stop using them to prove himself and his views. They also asked to be unlinked from Jacks website. They believe that Jacks views are having a negative impact on what they are trying to do. This came days after Jack made his game request for charity donations, how sweet of the guy.

In other game related information on the homefront ill go into blurb on my take of Indigo Prophecy. Ill try to make it brief.


Graphics: Remember boys and girls, the copy i have is for the ps2, so not nearly as good looking as it will be on the PC, but to the untrained eye, you wont notice this most of the time. Now to begin, the graphics of this games backgrounds and scenery are downright gorgeous, they are able to capture shadows, snow, breath, buildings and the like in very good detail, better than most games. It falls slightly when viewing characters, but as i said, it wont be obvious alot of the time. Due to shadowing and camera angles, the creators managed to make the characters less blocky. They still have some issues with the cut scenes, but for an interactive movie, im not complaining.

Storyline: The storyline of this "game" is absolutely, downright amazing. You follow the story of Lucas Kain, a man who was forced into killing a man in a restaurant bathroom. You follow him as he evades the police during his quest to find out what caused him to do such a vicious killing. You also get to play as the police in charge of chasing Lucas. Its a very interesting story and keeps you enthralled.

Interface: The interface to this game is so completely different and unique it adds to the effectiveness of the game. To do manual tasks you have to do movements on the joystick or by quickly tapping the R1 and L1 buttons. It sounds annoying or odd to begin with, but it is used very effectively. Next we have the action sequences. You get two transparent D-Pads appear on your screen, and as they flash a colour in a direction, you have to use the corresponding joystick and mimic the direction selected. Its very fun. If you fail doing certain actions a different response will happen, occasionally this ends in death, but not always.

Thats all for now.

Second post, shows my dedication.

Today was a pretty hectic day for me. Got to work on time like normal, and saw that it was a tad busier for the time in the morning, but i figured it was due to the long weekend. To my disbelief however, the day only picked up from there. I barely had time away from the register, the time i did have was usually spent stocking up cups and creamers for coffee and brewing another pot. I did get a chance to stock up the rest of the store once, but i didnt get a second chance. The morning passed pretty quickly, then slowed as it hit the lunch rush, all the little bastards from the nearby schools decided yet again to venture through dangerous looking weather to buy their lunches here. Seriously, who the fuck buys lunch from a gas station. Along with them and the increased amount of gas sales, i was pretty swamped. The afternoon only promised to be worse, the customers increased in volume and i was constantly at the cash. I barely managed to get my float made for the next shift while making constant safe drops. Ontop of that Mary was late showing up for the shift, so it took longer for me to leave. Now i really dont mind her being late, but i do hate the little bastards who came in after school that i had to put up with due to her late arrival. Seeing how surprised and swamped she was from the rush, i stocked up the smokes, fixed the cappichino machine a kid broke, and restocked. I got done my shift work shortly after and was gone an hour after the end of my shift.
Since then, ive pretty well rested up at home playing games and watching tv.

In regards to Nano, ive gotten the idea set out in my head. I plan to write a novel about the history of the fantasy world of created. Figured i could turn the history into a novel before starting the 12 novels i planned on writing for the world. I figure it will be some good times.

Well, this is my first entry.

I guess as I'm new to the whole sort of blog idea, ill just post what i feel is important that ive done today.

Today well, started off as most, got up, got ready for work and there i went for 8 hours. I then went off for a brief shopping binge in the mall.
Since ive been home i signed up for a interesting little group. It is the National Novel Writing Month group. found here www.nanowrimo.org. It is basically a challenge for people to rise up and write a 50000 word novel in the span of a month. You can go over that if you wish, but basically it gives you the "competition" to sit down and write where as normally you wouldn't. As ive wanted to sit down and start writing for awhile, this seems like a decent way to force me into the whole scheme of it.

For now, that is all.